"Bizarre": Supreme Court Dismisses Man's Plea To Deactivate 'Machine' Controlling His Brain

The Supreme Court recently dismissed a petition filed by a man who alleged that his brain was being controlled by other persons through a machine.

Terming the petition as bizarre, a bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah dismissed it, saying, "We see no scope or reason as to how we can interfere in this matter."

The petitioner had initially filed a writ petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court claiming that certain persons had obtained a "human brain reading machinery" from the Central Forensic Scientific Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad and used the same on the petitioner. He sought directions to deactivate the machine.

The CFSL, CBI filed a counter-affidavit in the High Court stating that there was never any forensic examination conducted on the petitioner, who is a teacher, at any point of time and hence the question of deactivation of the machine alleged to have been used on the petitioner did not arise. In view of this, the High Court in November 2022 dismissed the petition, where the petitioner had appeared as party-in-person.

Challenging the High Court's judgment, he filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court. On September 27, 2024, the Supreme Court expressed surprise at the petition. However, instead of dismissing it straightaway, the Court directed the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee to arrange an interaction with the petitioner in his mother tongue so as to understand his actual grievances.

After interacting with the petitioner, the SCLSC submitted a report to the Supreme Court stating that the petitioner wanted deactivation of the alleged device which was controlling his brain.

"This is the bizarre prayer(s) which has been made by the petitioner whose specific allegation is that there is some machine which is being used and operated at the hands of some persons, by which the “brain” of the petitioner is being controlled. We see no scope or reason as to how we can interfere in this matter," the Court observed dismissing the petition.